PDA

View Full Version : (Alt. Metal) Faith No More - Angel Dust


Theleftside2
04-06-2004, 03:22 PM
You Request a review...You get a review.

Faith No More - Angel Dust
http://fnm.com/lyrics/adcover.jpg

I really felt this album should have been on the Rolling Stone "500 greatest album of all time" list. but sadly, it didn't make it. :upset:

Faith No More

Billy Gould - Bassist
Mike "Puffy" Bordin - Drums
Jim Martin - Guitars
Roddy Bottum - Keyboards
Mike Patton - Vocals


This album was Faith No More's way of getting back at their newly formed fan base that came from the overplayed "Epic" video on MTV. Everybody had set that song, and that album (The Real Thing,) to be the peak of Faith No More's talents. This album slapped them all in the face and proved them completely wrong.
While it didn't sell as much as The Real Thing. and wasn't their easiest album to get into, until maybe after a few listens, you then begin to realize how brilliant this album actually is. This album was also the first of many where Mike Patton really lets his voice, and the characters in his lyrics, go all over the place.
It is full of mood swings, from a song about Oral sex to a song about a black drug dealer who thinks he's Hitler. It is a ride that is worth it.


....The question is, Are you crazy enough to take it?

:evil:

1. Land Of Sunshine
2. Caffeine
3. Midlife Crisis
4. RV
5. Smaller and Smaller
6. Everything's Ruined
7. Malpractice
8. Kindergarten
9. Be Aggressive
10. A Small Victory
11. Crack Hitler
12. Jizzlobber
13. Midnight Cowboy


1. Land Of Sunshine -
Starts off the album fresh with a circus like feel. Billy Gould's bassline is just "hypnotically catchy." There's almost no real chorus in the song but somehow it's still one hell of a catchy experience. The lyrics to most of the songs on this album were written by Mike Patton while he was having a "sleep deprivation experiment." Through the verses Mike is basically reading the fortune's that you find from inside of Fortune Cookies. And the bridge portions? he's basically mocking TV Infomercials. :D Pure Genius! 5/5

2. Caffeine -
a very explosive song about Mike's drug of choice. This song was also written during his sleep deprivation experiment. Starts off with farm-like noises, then Jim Martin shows some heavy guitar riffs that can sound as good as any other "Thrash metal" act around at the time. Mike's yelling voice is just amazing here. Especially near the end where he asks "..Do you have something to tell me, say something to me, anything..." and then everything goes crazy! One of my favorite parts that I've ever heard from any song. 4.5/5

3. Midife Crisis -
This song is just nice. Nothing complicated about this song, It's just a straight up good song. Makes me wonder why it wasn't a hit. Roddy's Keyboards take center stage here. This song is almost reminiscent to their Chuck Mosely era, except of course with better singing. The lyrics had a lot to do with speculation and observation, he was only in his 20's at the time, but they had a lot to do with Madonna as well...Mike felt she was going through something of a midlife crisis. 5/5

4. RV -
This song is just hilarious. I highly recommend this to any Tenacious D fans out there. I've been known to dedicate this song to myself. :p
It's a very Country-ish song about a lazy, overweight, dead beat dad who just doesn't seem to find happiness anywhere. It's very relateable. Especially the last few lines "...I think it's time I had a talk with my kids, I'll just tell them what my daddy told me, you ain't never gonna amount to nothin'." 5/5

5. Smaller and Smaller -
This is a very good song. It's very tribal-like. Mike's singing is really emotional sounding. He realy does take the role of his poor character on this song to the extreme. In between this song you can also hear Mike Patton doing some of those chants that you would later hear on Mr. Bungle albums and Fantomas albums in the future. Not much I can say about this song it's just another beauty. 5/5

6. Everything's Ruined -
Starts off with Roddy's "Happy" keyboard. Then the drum and bass kicks in. Reminiscent of all those "Nu-Metal" bands out there right now. This is where it came from; And only Faith No More made it sound as good as they did. The song is about a kid growing up to be a fraud. 4.5/5

7. Malpractice -
A really heavy song about a woman who goes to see a Gynecologyst because she is turned on by the fact that he puts her hands in her. This song is full of neat effects, samples, and rhythm changes. Mike's screaming comes back powerful on this song. I love the "Cold hands, Your Hands..." part, Mike Patton sort of resembles Layne Staley there for some reason. perfect. 5/5

8. Kindergarten -
Another hilarious song. Billy Gould's bassline is just brilliant; he is, IMO, one of the most underrated bassist around. The chorus is just irressistably catchy. In between the song you'll be able to catch Mike Patton playing the role of an auctioneer. Jim Martin's guitar shines the most on this song, I think. 5/5

9. Be Aggressive -
This is the song I least liked from this album, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. ;)
The eerie keyboards start the song leading you into a funk frenzy song about...gulp...giving head! Originally written by Roddy Bottum, not Mike Patton, for Mike Patton to sing...the band thought it would be funny if Mike would sing about sucking and swallowing and sounding proud of it. And come to think of it, it was funny. :lol: 5/5

10. A Small Victory -
A song about being a sore loser. It is one of the highlights of the album. Despite the meaning of the song it has a very positive feel. All the instruments sound great. It is a must hear for anyone who hasn't heard of Faith No More. 5/5

11. Crack Hitler -
A very funky song that reminds me of one of those 80's TV cop sitcoms. There's also a part after the chorus where you could almost picture a bunch of Nazi's marching...Hey!..Hey!...:p This song is about a black guy who's a drug dealer, and takes drugs himself. The drugs make him think highly of himself to the point where he compares himself to Hitler. "...In regards to my usage of the drug, it modified my personality, to the extent that I was highly irritable, I was like a Crack Hitler!" A very funny and cool song. :cool: 4.5/5

12. Jizzlobber -
This is probably Faith No More's Heaviest song. It's almost like Cradle Of Filth meets The Melvins...Mostly written by Jim Martin. Jim would be kicked out of the band after this album. But I'm glad he didn't leave on a bad note. This is one of the most unique sounding metal songs I've ever heard. Everything from the swamp like intro, Roddy Bottum's eerie keyboards, and Mike Bordin's memorable loud-*** drumming...make this one of my favorites. And maybe even yours too. Roddy Bottum's Organ outro just ends this album off perfectly. But wait it's not over yet. 4.5/5

13. Midnight Cowboy -
This is a theme song to the TV Show. It is considered a bonus track...but it fits great at the end...it's very soothing especially after a monster like "Jizzlobber." There's no lyrics, but they're almost not even necessary...even if that means they're coming from someone like Mike Patton. 4.5/5


This may not be on the Rolling Stone list but it is considered by many people to be one of the top best albums of the 90's.
I'm sorry if my review doesn't cover much. I began typing in a hurry. this stuff almost takes forever. But in the end it's all worth it. Yes indeed...well, OK now I'm just rambling.


But yeah...definitely pick up this CD. 5/5 :thumb:

talk show host
04-06-2004, 04:52 PM
It is a ride that is worth it.

....The question is, Are you crazy enough to take it?

:evil:



:lol: :lol:

Beautiful :evil:


Aye, this is a great album. My favourites are Caffeine, Land of Sunshine, Midlife Crisis and Jizzlobber. Great review, I pretty much agree with you. It's a cd that's criminally underplayed by me ( :upset: ), but when I get back to my beloved cd collection, I'm sure i'll give it another spin (and think of you)

Anyway, yeah. Highly recommended.

Oh, and there's nothing wrong with Epic. Especially the live version from Brixton Academy.

"This next song, is a song, that has 4 letters in the title and it starts........with an E"

Go Mike!

Theleftside2
04-06-2004, 05:08 PM
but when I get back to my beloved cd collection, I'm sure i'll give it another spin (and think of you)


:-*



Oh, and there's nothing wrong with Epic. Especially the live version from Brixton Academy.
I'm not saying there's something wrong with Epic...it was my favorite Faith No More song for a long time and it's also the song that got me into the band and Mike Patton in the first place.

It's just people had their mind set on that being their biggest song. Sort of the same way everyone set the song "Creep" to be Radiohead's biggest song.
And I'm sure you can relate to that Steve...eh? :naughty:




I love you! :p

Bartender
04-06-2004, 05:41 PM
Really good review. I love this album, but outside of the actual music, my Faith No More knowledge/trivia is pathetic. So could someone explain why my album has "Easy" on it, but others don't? Is it just a bonus track? Its credited as being written by Lionel Ritchie..

Anyway, I won't say much about each track or I'd just end up writing another review. Just like to say I agree totally about A Small Victory; despite the subject matter being pretty negative, its the song I listen to if I specifically want to feel positive. It just sounds happy. I would pick a favourite track, but unlike most albums, even those where I love each track, there isn't really one that stands out. If that happened, I'd usually go to the lyrics in an attempt to find something distinguishing to break the tie, but each track on this album has little lyrical gems, e.g:

R.V. - "A drink needs me, I don't.."
Midlife Crisis - "Sense of security, holding blunt instrument"

I've tried to pick out individual lines there...more usually its just whole passages or songs.
5/5 from me - it should have been on the Top 500 list, so very much so.

Tomahawk
04-06-2004, 11:52 PM
That was a really good review. I agree almost completely. Angel Dust is probably my favourite CD ever. It's fairly accessable for something so crazy and genius, so I can usually always listen to it and love it no matter what mood I'm in. And the lyrics are probably the best Patton has written. I love the end of Midlife Crisis, where the different parts of the song are playing at once, it works so well.

Oh and about Easy, it's on my CD too. It's a cover of a Commodores song (thats why it's by Lionel Ritchie), that they used to play at concerts to piss people off I think. Then they decided to release it, and it was a hit in some places. I think it was released after Angel Dust, and on later pressings of the CD they threw it on as a bonus track.

But yeah, again, great review.

br3ad_man
04-07-2004, 03:55 PM
You Request a review...You get a review.


Thanks, it was a really good review...I'll probably get this cd now, in a few weeks.

SubtleDagger
04-07-2004, 04:00 PM
Malpractice owns everyone.

Matter of fact, Angel Dust altogether owns everyone. Nice review.

Theleftside2
04-07-2004, 05:48 PM
Thanks John and all of you guys for the comments. :)

I also forgot to mention that Roddy's Organ during the intro, and the Cheerleaders during the chorus of "Be Aggressive" always remind me of that Super NES game Zombies Ate My Neighbors for some reason. If any of you have played it, you'd probably get an idea why it does.


...I just find that kinda funny. :p

OrbDragon
04-09-2004, 04:27 AM
Great record...great review too...this is one of the most enjoyable reviews I've read in quite some time.

Angel Dust was FNM at it's peak.

ZEROthirtythree
04-09-2004, 09:33 AM
wow, no song is less than 4.5

Are you just being bias or is this really a good cd? I was thinking my "Best of FNM" cd was all i needed.

ExitWound
04-09-2004, 10:14 AM
It's a good disc, but fanboys writing reviews always leads to score bias. If you read the "rules" of reviewing here, You'd see that a 4/5 is a remarkable album and very few should be 5/5, yet so many on this board are. You can't escape it when the reviews are done by the people who love the band to begin with. It's an undying circle.

Theleftside2
04-09-2004, 10:39 AM
I was trying my hardest not to be biased...really!

...but at the same time I didn't want to score them too low. Everyone has different favorites on this album. Beside this is an album to listen to completely. Not by skipping songs, and rating them seperately. I kinda regret rating them that way now. :(

Go ahead and write your own review on this thread, if you don't agree; that's allowed...isnt it?

and if you read everyone else's responses to this they will also let you know that this is just a really good album that should of been on the Rolling Stone 500 albums list.

Oh yeah, and ZEROthirtythree, this is basically their greatest hits album. :thumb: As a matter of fact this CD is better than both of their Greatest Hits CD's combined. If you're looking for the best of Faith no More, this album is where to look.

ExitWound
04-09-2004, 12:10 PM
I do believe Angel Dust is the pinnacle of FNM's career, but I find some of the tracks on The Real Thing far better. I also like the high Patton voice as opposed to the lower new one he uses. It's hard not to be biased in the reviews. I gave Weird Al's POodle hate a 4.5/5 becuase i DO believe it's his best work. I'd give Even Worse, his 2nd album, 2.5/5 because it really isn't anything special at all, even though I'm a huge fan. Angel Dust is good fer sure. I'd rather listen to Introduce Yourself than King for a Day or Album of the Year though. It's all in opinion. heh.

Theleftside2
04-12-2004, 02:54 PM
Oh yeah...there's a japanese version of this CD that contains a rare re-recording of the song "As The Worm turns" with Mike Patton, and not Chuck Mesely singing the lyrics.

Just in case someone owns this cd and is curious. :p

ToolOwnz
05-07-2004, 05:39 AM
Oh yeah...there's a japanese version of this CD that contains a rare re-recording of the song "As The Worm turns" with Mike Patton, and not Chuck Mesely singing the lyrics.

Just in case someone owns this cd and is curious. :p

yea i got that song online, its pretty good.

For Those interested in the twisted and funny history of Faith No More, there is the Faith No More Faq here:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~rjwj/mirror/fnmfaq.html

goodbyesoberday
05-08-2004, 07:39 AM
that was really really good review, has king for a day been reviewed?

Bartender
05-08-2004, 07:41 AM
Check in the reviewed list.

EDIT: yup, it has. OrbDragon did it a while ago: King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime (http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145478)

OrbDragon
05-08-2004, 12:21 PM
Anyone should check out these two rare FNM tracks:

Spanish Eyes
I Started A Joke


Great singing.

Theleftside2
05-08-2004, 09:00 PM
Yeah...Those songs are great, Orb!

Spanish Eyes and I Started a Joke are beautiful!

Those two were B-sides off King For A Day, which Their Roadie/Temporary guitarist Dean Menta played guitar on.

Good stuff! :thumb: :)

Tomahawk
05-08-2004, 10:43 PM
Anyone should check out these two rare FNM tracks:

Spanish Eyes
I Started A Joke


Great singing.

Yep, those are cool. Also check out their live cover of "This Guys in Love With You", it's really good.

mexicanfloydian
06-22-2004, 12:42 PM
This is the best FNM album. It's just a perfect. 5/5.

dazombee
07-05-2004, 03:36 PM
U say it wasnt in 500 greatest allbums in rolling stones, but in Kerrang!( the UKs biggest rock magazine) it was number ONE! no2 was nevermind.

Theleftside2
07-05-2004, 04:45 PM
U say it wasnt in 500 greatest allbums in rolling stones, but in Kerrang!( the UKs biggest rock magazine) it was number ONE! no2 was nevermind.
Are you serious!? :eek:


That's ****ing fantastic. :D

diotron
07-05-2004, 05:03 PM
I can barely have a single memory of any time between 1990 and 1997 without Faith No More blazing in the background somewhere. They're one of the greatest bands ever, in my opinion.
Good review too - I'd be interested in knowing what you guys think of King for a Day, too...
EDIT. (...okay so I scrolled up and found one. Woops.)

TTTSNB
07-05-2004, 09:44 PM
sounds cool, ive never actually listened to FNM, maybe ill give them a try.

OrbDragon
07-06-2004, 06:52 AM
Yep, those are cool. Also check out their live cover of "This Guys in Love With You", it's really good.

I love that one too...but the "Spanish Eyes" cover is my favorite cover Patton has sung. I don't think that song can be better sung than that (including Humperdink himself). Mike sings it so effortlessly.

Lately in his newer material, Patton hasn't been showing off his singing voice...but when he wants to...****, he's just too good. His new solo album is supposed to be an album full of romantic ballads...so hopefully we'll hear more of his goods in the near future again.

br3ad_man
07-06-2004, 07:26 AM
^^^
Wow, I'd really like to hear that! (his solo album)

OrbDragon
07-06-2004, 08:33 AM
Yeah, it's definitely something I look more forward to than his other upcoming material.

Speaking of cool covers, FNM also has an hilarious cover of "Das Schutzenfest"...Patton sings in fluent German :lol:

OrbDragon
07-06-2004, 01:37 PM
Now that I looked it up: "Das Schutzenfest" is actually an original FNM song! Holy scheisse...that is so cool.

If you haven't heard this song before, I'm sure you'll go "What the ****??!!" when you do.

Theleftside2
07-07-2004, 03:57 PM
Now that I looked it up: "Das Schutzenfest" is actually an original FNM song! Holy scheisse...that is so cool.

If you haven't heard this song before, I'm sure you'll go "What the ****??!!" when you do.
yeah. It sounds like something Mr. Bungle would do instead of FNM.
It's a Very odd song.

A few other B-side songs are: Absolute Zero, The Big Kahuna, The World Is Yours, Greenfields, I Wont Forget You, and Lets Lynch The Landlord.

br3ad_man
07-07-2004, 07:08 PM
Now that I looked it up: "Das Schutzenfest" is actually an original FNM song! Holy scheisse...that is so cool.

If you haven't heard this song before, I'm sure you'll go "What the ****??!!" when you do.

:lol:

That is the funniest song ever. The dog is hilarious.

OrbDragon
07-08-2004, 06:37 AM
I have never heard "The Big Kahuna" before...holy crap! *downloads the song withe mixture of shame and excitement*


I never understood why FNM never released "The World Is Yours"...I've always considered that one of their best tracks. You can hear there why bands like Incubus are so influenced by FNM.

MildlyAmusingWankCushion
07-29-2004, 09:48 AM
Thankyou very much!! i got this album after you and so many others recommended it so highly and i enjoy it very much. I love patton, and mr bungle. Some great songs on there, but i think it needs more time to grow on me because i couldn't yet put it as 'greatest album of all time' status just yet. but maybe one day...